Operation Green Quest and the Terrorist assault on Indian
Parliament.

Date Written : Dec 21, 2001

Sources of Funding for Terrorist Organizations

Mr. President Bush, we thank you once again, this time for freezing Umma Tameer-e-nau (UTN)
assets. "UTN claims to serve the hungry and needy of Afghanistan, but it was
the UTN that provided information about nuclear weapons to al-Qaeda," Bush announced in the White House Rose Garden.

UTN, a non-governmental organization was founded by Pakistani nuclear scientists that
provided information to Osama bin Laden and the Taliban about chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons.
Bashir-ud-Din Mahmood, who was formerly the director for nuclear power at the Pakistani Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC)
was the founder of UTN and one of the key directors. Other two were Abdul Majeed, a former high- ranking official at the PAEC and an expert in nuclear fuels; and S.M. Tufail, an industrialist.

Operation Green Quest

Operation Green Quest (OGQ) seems to be yielding results. It was a new multi-agency financial enforcement
initiative launched on Oct 25, 2001 by The Department of the Treasury, US.
According to Dept of Treasury, Operation Green Quest was created to serve a broader
mission:

To deny terrorist groups access to the international financial system,

To impair the ability of terrorists to fundraise, and

To expose, isolate and incapacitate the financial networks of terrorists.

While disclosing that US Government is taking action against the organization
that gives funds to terrorists, it may not disclose the future actions.
But President seems to be absolutely sure that US is "attacking the terrorists' international financial network".
This may be a combined effort of OGQ and two other organizations -- the Foreign Terrorist Asset Tracking Center
(FTAT), and the Terrorist Financing Task Force. US Government had created
these three organizations to help facilitate information sharing between intelligence and law enforcement agencies and encourage other countries to identify, disrupt, and defeat terrorist financing networks.

Although the US may not make it public, but be assured that President Bush is
fully aware of the terrorism in India being promoted from the Pakistani soil. He said "The legislature of the world's largest democracy, a nation founded on the principles of freedom of speech, freedom of worship, was ruthlessly attacked. The terrorists killed eight innocent people. If their mission had succeeded, they would have kidnapped and killed many of India's elected representatives."

Interesting part of the flow of his speech saying -- "since Sep 11 we've witnessed a series of terrorist attacks aimed at the United States and our friends around the world"
followed by "suicide bombings against Israel" and then " attack on the Indian
Parliament"

Quotes of President Bush and need for the joint action of
Musharraf-Vajpayee governments.

Referring to attack on Indian Parliament President said: "Last week's
attack was only the most recent terrorist assault on the institutions of Indian
democracy. More than 30 people were killed in a car bombing of the State Legislative Assembly in Srinagar on October the 1st. These attacks on India's Parliament buildings remind us that whatever grievances or causes the terrorists may cite, their real target is democracy and freedom."

"The United States condemns these terrorist attacks against India. And we extend our sympathies and friendship to the families of the murdered."

"American power will be used against all terrorists of global reach. So today I'm adding another terrorist organization to the list of those whose assets are blocked by my executive order. Lashkar-e-Tayiba is an extremist group based in Kashmir.
LeT is a stateless sponsor of terrorism, and it hopes to destroy relations between Pakistan and India and to undermine Pakistani's President Musharraf."

"To achieve its purpose, LeT has committed acts of terrorism inside both India and Pakistan.
LeT is a terrorist organization that presents a global threat. And I look forward to working with the governments of both India and Pakistan in a common effort to shut it down and to bring the killers to justice."

In its fact sheet, the White House has said that the LeT was one of the
three largest Kashmiri separatist groups fighting against India and had
conducted a number of attacks against Indian troops and civilian targets in
Kashmir since 1993. It said LeT was suspected in eight attacks in August that
killed nearly 100 mostly "Hindu Indians".

We hope that Vajpayee Government catches the signals from the 25-page
report issued by White House, titled "The Global War On Terrorism: The First 100
Days".

Mr. President, we thank you again as we had earlier, when you froze the assets on Dec 04 of an American Islamic foundation
and two overseas groups accused of financing the terrorist Palestinian
organization Hamas and also shutting down of the largest Muslim charity in
the United States -- the Holy
Land Foundation for Relief and Development. more

It is still a long way to go till the terrorism gets wiped-off.
Terrorism has taken enough lives all-over the globe. This menace of
Terrorism needs to be ruthlessly dealt with. Terrorism is the enemy of
Human civilization, Islamic Terrorism being the worst form of it.